'Bare' with me.
Take nothing but pictures.
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
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This isn't a typical blog with words and a story-line. It's more an accumulation of (mostly plant/tree-related) pictures, thoughts, and experiences (experiments?) from me. I dig for fun, not for trouble.
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To ‘berm’ or not to ‘berm’?
Forgiving my terrible phone pictures, a berm is a ridge of dirt, soil, etc. typically used when planting a tree on a hill or an incline because it works like a levy to catch water. Instead of the water running off and down the hill, the berm will act as a retainer and the water will soak down to the roots of the newly planted tree while it’s getting established.
The third picture is what can happen if your soil settles and leaves an outline of the hole that was dug. This is often seen when planting, not on an incline but, a flatter ground where small, regular, amounts of flooding may occur after rain or something similar. The issue with this is after the natural flooding goes down, the indentation will actually hold water for an even longer period of time. Depending on the soil type and the tree type, the water may not drain before the tree’s roots suffocate.
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My peach tree, experiencing seasonal defoliation, and my aunt’s peach tree. They were the same age, planted at the same time this past spring, but my tree ended up in my grandparents’ yard where my grandfather watered it regularly with MiracleGro. My aunt’s tree was healthier, overall, since it shows no signs of borers, but it is noticeably smaller. We will be transplanting her peach to my new yard this fall when it is fully dormant so that it doesn’t grow to its standard (~15 ft) size and encroach on her outdoor living space.
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When life gives a lemon plant lemons apparently it sulks. This is possibly the result of:
1. Insufficient light
2. I had transplanted this plant ~3 times and I shouldn’t have (it was loose!)
3. I finally cut off the energy-sapping, not-growing lemon* (possibly adding to shock)
4. The temperature has been below the desired 50-55° F minimum
5. Not sure how much water it actually wants, it may be thirsty
*Tiny, green, lemon was actually very aromatic and full of flavor! And many, many full-sized seeds for its small size. I have pictures of the lemon & seeds, I’ll have to find where I put them so I can upload them.
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Happy Branch, Happy Branch, Sad Branch.
Breaking up your fruit clusters will make your branches happy! It also encourages larger fruit, avoids limb damage, and can help prevent deformed fruit. Heavy clusters may also attribute to fruit-drop when trees attempt to “over-bear” especially when they are too young to be bearing healthy crops of fruit.
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“Do you know what this is?” http://ow.ly/6Vk7R
I most certainly did not, when I was asked this today, so I google-searched for what I thought it looked like at first glance: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=brain+fruit
Lo and behold! The image search results were spot-on, so I clicked-through to see what one of these “brain fruits” was actually called.
“Osage Orange”. It’s an orange? So I Wiki’d it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera
It is from a small tree, or a large shrub. The fruit is spherical but bumpy. “Osage-Orange” or “Hedge-Apple”. Smells faintly of oranges in the fall but it is in the Mulberry family. The fruit floats. The only edible part is the seed, smaller than a sunflower seed, tucked away in the tough fibrous fruit and found after breaching the slimy casing.
Just thought I’d share. If you’re interested in any other unique fruit, you should check out the Jabuticaba (or Brazilian Grape):
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What are you, tiny green insect who I’m accusing of eating the centers out of my blackberry leaves? The picture isn’t clear at all, but you get an idea of its size. This little bugger was on my blackberry plant, very close to the location where the new leaves have holes eaten through their middles. He has a light green body, a smooth flat head, and a tiny reddish/brownish stinger-looking tail that he kept wagging around like he was going to get me with it (right before he faked me out and jumped off the leaf to who-knows-where). Any ideas?
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This is a Candycrisp apple. A relative of Red Delicious, but with a much crispier texture. The flesh is juicy and sweet and it has virtually no acidity, allowing for a clean aftertaste leaving you wanting another bite. Downside? It does brown almost immediately after cutting so it’s not ideal for pretty salads or packing in lunches unless you splash some lemon juice on it first.
(Want to know where I got one? From one of these babies: http://ow.ly/6U7jX)
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Some skies and some fall colors. I really wish I had a better camera but I use what I have and my fuzzy camera-phone pictures will have to do.
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Final borer-miner killer application. Any other twig borers will be pruned off along with the branches this fall. I am so looking forward to that! (I sort of look like a hobo or a really cold person, the truth is, it wasn’t really cold out and I’m only a hobo sometimes).
The borer miner killer is something that can be applied every two weeks or so. I was probably doing it once a month for 3 months. I mixed one gallon by the instructions and I still had a majority of that gallon left after 3 applications and I only used it on one tree. It sort of justifies the 8 oz container since it makes more than you think and you don’t really even use all that much. Just spray to a dripping point and soak all the leaves/branches. I sprayed some of the trunk for good measure since 1. it didn’t say not to and 2. I know borers like trunks too. I didn’t want to usher them to a nice safehaven in a vital part of the young tree!
